The veteran lawmakers, both members of the powerful Senate finance committee, launched their inquiry last summer following a Guardian investigation into bonuses that UnitedHealth pays to nursing homes that reduce hospital transfers for their residents. Those are hospitalizations the insurance giant would otherwise have to pay for.

UnitedHealth did not directly respond to questions from the Guardian about the senators’ assertion that the company had failed to turn over internal documents. But it said in a statement it would “continue to engage” with the senators and that its nursing home care program “improves outcomes” and “reduces unnecessary hospitalizations”.

The new letter from the senators says that in the five months since they formally requested a tranche of documents about the initiative, UnitedHealth has “declined to produce” any internal records on its hospitalization policies or bonus payments and only provided “brief and unsubstantial answers” in response to their questions.

On 29 July the senators’ offices held a briefing with UnitedHealth in which the company maintained that nursing homes in its program were not required to have conversations with the company’s direct care division before sending residents to the hospital, according to the letter.

Wyden and Warren wrote that this claim “is at odds” with a company document, which was provided to the Senate finance committee by a whistleblower. The document showed that UnitedHealth pushed nursing homes to “immediately” call its direct care division even if they were sending out an insured UnitedHealth member “urgently”, according to the senators’ letter.

In June, UnitedHealth sued the Guardian, alleging defamation for a story about bonuses the company paid to nursing homes that helped it to reduce hospital transfers for their residents. The suit was the latest in a series of aggressive tactics aimed at silencing critics, the New York Times reported.

In the wake of the suit, the Guardian stood by its story, and continued to report on the company’s nursing home practices.

To give some quick and non-explicit context, I'm a 38 y.o. man who's been diagnosed with cPTSD due to trauma here-&-there my entire life. It's often felt like I navigate life within a reinforced glass prison rendering unable to "connect"(by that I mean it almost on the level of a "vibe" if you will). Like, I can be there, laughing and joking with folks yet feel, "everyone else seems to have something deeper between each other than I'm capable of for some mysterious reason".
Is it just the residual PTSD-worldview, or is *this* the quintessential Christian experience existing here? Apologies if this isn't exactly clear.

Hello everyone.
I know this thread isn't going to be as serious or important as some of the other prayers posted. But I'm truthfully so exhausted and out of options, so any and all prayers would really be appreciated. My family's been under heavy spiritual warfare recently (from my father's job and the corruption there to my mother's health issues). I've also had a package stolen that meant a lot to me and it hurts to be honest. I've done everything to try and find it and the post office has just been protecting the truck driver who took it (even to the point of where I've gotten injured trying to run after their carriers for answers). I've prayed to God about all of this and most of the time, it feels like my prayers are going nowhere. Please pray for us. Thank you

No wonder he is so underwater in the polls regarding the economy (jobs, inflation and prices).

Is there a way to do that here? I've looked, but cannot figure it out.

One of Release International’s partners in Nigeria seeks to help the church fulfil its biblical calling to mission amid opposition and persecution.
Pray for those affected by the attacks of Fulani militant groups. Many communities have been destroyed, and people killed. Pray for displaced people, living in camps and facing hardship.
Pray for the many Christian widows and their children who have no means of getting food and medical assistance. Many are traumatised and need trauma counselling. Pray for wisdom in the training of pastors and church leaders to provide this much-needed counselling.
Pray for God’s enabling help for pastors. In places the needs are great as pastors’ homes become a sanctuary for the community during crisis. Pray for grace and spiritual strength for those serving in dangerous areas.

Protests have been ongoing for days now, increasing in intensity, whilst the regime tries to isolate Iranians from the outside world with communications blackouts.

Opposition support has grown for Reza Pahlavi, who has called for the people to overwhelm the security forces.

He tweeted asking President Trump to be ready for intervention. On the one hand I think it would be empowering for the Iranian people to take matters and their future into their own hands, on the other, American intervention may help build burnt bridges.

Either way very interesting times and I will be praying for the people of Iran. A dethroned Islamic regime in Iran would be hugely positive for the region.

9 years ago I received a wonderful promise from God. A promise that I would one day have a baby. I kid you not and I wish I were making it up sometimes. Now? I've got this OVERBEARING feeling that that promise is finally not only close, not only being fulfilled but that its finally after all this time, all this waiting, all this praying, all this faith, all this hope, finally here. The feeling started around my vision changes and has been growing stronger every day. Now? Im exploding with this feeling with this joy, with this queasiness, with this fear, because what ive been waiting for all of this time might finally become a reality. Tomorrow morning? I will know for sure because my wife will take a pregnancy test but as of today she is on day 31 of her period and she hasn't gotten one yet, she is experiencing mild cramps where she has never experienced cramps on an upcoming period before which to me is a powerful sign and all of the signs are starting to point towards after all of this time, after nearly 40 years of being alive im going to be a father. And not just a father one of the greatest fathers who have ever existed. And if it turns out she is not pregnant afterall? Than it doesnt mean Gods promise has failed it just means his perfect timing isnt being fulfilled quite yet and i accept that. Anyway, let us pray together. Pray that if its within Gods will that Gods promise be fulfilled now, that i be the amazing father that I want to be. That God equip me for all of it. Because I am still terrified of holding my baby. Especially during the first two weeks of its life and it cant support its own head. I dont want to hurt my own child and... im terrified I will. I want God to take this anxiety away from me. I want to hold my child, laugh with my child, be the best father I can be and be the father that I wasnt the uncle to to my nieces... forever.

Sorry for making a separate thread about this but my last thread was getting a little long, and this is a completely new and completely separate topic.

Other words for eye are insight, judgment, sense, and discernment. And this could be good, and godly, and moral, and upright. Or it could be bad, and sinful, and unwise, and not discerning, but evil, foolish, and self-indulgent. For light has to do with Jesus Christ, and his righteousness and holiness and truth. And darkness has to do with evil, sin, and wickedness. And people love the darkness because their deeds are evil. But if we walk (in conduct) in darkness (in sinful practice), we do not have eternal life with God in heaven.

Yet, there are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ today, some of them pastors of “churches,” who are still walking in (living in, in conduct) in darkness (sin) and not in the light of God’s gospel message. For they have believed a lie of Satan which is telling them that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ secures them salvation from sin and eternal life with God, regardless of how they live. But God teaches us that if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

And why are they believing the lie and not the truth? Because people love the darkness and so they hate the light, because their deeds are evil (see John 3:16-21). So, even though all or most of them know the truth, they reject the truth in favor of the lie so that they can keep on in their sins. And some of them might even profess with their lips that they believe the truth, but while they are still living the lie, and as a coverup for what they are doing, hoping that they will be able to pass themselves off as righteous.

But the “eye” also has to do with the physical eye, for so much that is sinful involves the eye, and includes the lusts of the flesh and of the eye and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17; Galatians 5:16-21; etc.). And probably the most serious and massive sin of the eye in today’s world involves addiction to pornography and to sexually explicit material and all that goes along with that, which includes adultery, idolatry, cheating on spouses, lying, hypocrisy, fakery, and other immoral and abhorrent behaviors of the lusts of the flesh.

But this doesn’t have to be just what we consider to be “gross sins,” but they can include those areas which many people regard as “borderline” or as “safe,” and so they think they are no big deal. But they are still a big deal where God is concerned. For we should not engage ourselves in anything that is immoral in the sight of God, no matter how minor we think it might be. We should not let our eyes wander to what contrary to God’s word, but we must guard our minds and our hearts against what is evil in God’s eyes.

So, don’t think that just because you made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that you are now good to go to heaven regardless of how you live, for that is a lie straight from hell to get you to compromise righteousness and truth and to get you to still live by the flesh and to not walk by the Spirit. So don’t listen to the lies which tell you that a little bit of “dirt” is ok as long as you don’t do such and such. We all have to guard our hearts and minds against those subtle and deliberately evil temptations to compromise. For..

“You cannot serve God and wealth,” i.e. “the treasure a person trusts in” (see Matthew 6:19-21). We cannot serve God and any idols we might have. We can’t be idolaters and followers of Jesus Christ, too. The two don’t mix. For we can have only one Lord, i.e. master of our lives. If worldly possessions or prestige or sinful addictions are what we treasure, i.e. what we pursue, in place of godliness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we are not servants of the Lord. We don’t know God!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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We Can’t Serve Two Masters
An Original Work / January 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

New app offers women of all ages trustworthy, science-based fertility tracking without the morally problematic features common in many popular platforms​

The Fertility Science Institute by Couple to Couple League, a leading provider of Natural Family Planning (NFP) resources, is launching an updated version of PeakDay, its Catholic fertility and period-tracking app, which has already been downloaded nearly 200,000 times in the past year. Designed as a safe, values-driven alternative to mainstream fertility apps that often promote birth control, abortion, and other controversial agendas, PeakDay empowers women to track their fertility while staying true to their Catholic beliefs. To start 2026, women are invited to take a 60-day personal challenge to improve cycle health, with a free trial of PeakDay’s premium features included.

Continued below.

New to this place. Going through a separation after 28 years of marriage. My wife has left me, family, the church, everything for a new man.. she is right in the throws of the affair bubble at the moment.

Hi to all,

I'm a 44 yr old female, non believer up til now, but have been open-minded and actively wanting to find a reason to believe in something, for over 25 years now.

I'm highly skeptical, scienfitically-minded, and the type of person who simply needs concrete evidence in order to believe something is real. I was raised by atheist parents.

I have a question for you, but first, you need the context :

In the past years, I've often simply asked "God" or "Jesus" to manifest himself in a way that I would qualify as believable, not attributable to coincidence or mere chance.

It would have to be a very obvious sign, that couldn't be random. And in the past, I don't recall having ever been "answered".
My interest waned, faded and returned some months or years later, when I felt particularly vulnerable or beaten down by life or depressed.

Last night was one of those times, and I asked again, for a clear, unambiguous sign that I would not be able to attribute to coincidence.
I asked that my husband (who is an atheist and THE least spiritual person I know), to say the word "Jesus" during the course of the upcoming evening.
Of course, if that happened, I would be absolutely shocked and would have a serious reason to start believing that something must be out there listening. After all, if there is a God and he did 'make me', then he knows that I need such proof in order to believe.

What happened is that during the evening, we were watching Harry Potter and, at one scene, (where Ginny comes downstairs to find Harry in her house unexpectedly and backs away looking petrified and scary), my husband said "haha she looks like the AntiChrist".

At which point I immediately turned to him with disbelief, as he said the word "Christ" and that is extraordinarily unlikely with him !

BUT my problem is that he said it with the negative connotation of the devil, the antichrist, and that he didn't use the exact word "Jesus" which I'd asked for.

So this brings me to my question : was this the sign I asked for ? Can it be 'disguised' like this, and still be a sign ? Even with the negative connotation of the AntiChrist ??
I don't know what to make of it, and I was hoping you could help me with that.

Thanks a lot,
Kate

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, grilled witnesses during a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday about the staggering statistics of welfare among the Somali community in Minnesota.

During the hearing that featured several Minnesota state lawmakers and addressed the allegations of widespread social services fraud in the state, Gill cited government statistics as he issued rapid-fire questions to Democrat witness Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor.

“Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?" he asked, to which Ballou replied, "Certainly stronger."

Gill went on to interrogate Ballou regarding what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps, a statistic Ballou did not know, but which Gill noted is 54%.

"Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?" Gill asked, before quickly noting it's only 7%.

Continued below.

This reminds me of that old song by Jim Reeves called, “This World is Not My Home.”

This world is not my home
I'm just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue

The angels beckon me
From heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore…

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What is a treasure? It can be money, or worldly possessions, or anything earthly and of this world. But it can be anything that we might cherish, adore, and give value to, which we hold dear to our hearts, which doesn’t necessarily have to be anything of a physical nature at all. So, a treasure could be a sinful habit or a stubborn will or any selfish desire that might rule one’s heart, which one might refuse to let go of. Or it can be any kind of obsession that one holds on to which is greater to them than God.

For it is not wrong to have possessions such as furniture to sit on, or a table to eat at, or a bed to sleep on, or dishes to eat off of, or clothing or shoes to wear, or a roof over our heads, etc. But if we have more than we need, or more than we are using, and it is just being stored up while others go hungry or are in need of what we have, but don’t need, then it is time to go through our drawers and our closets and cupboards and to donate what we don’t need, and we are not using, to help people who are in need.

But that isn’t the extent of what this is all about. It has to do with what we treasure in our hearts, what we desire, what we worship, and what we feel we cannot live without, and especially what we put above and/or in place of God in our hearts and minds, and then how that impacts our thinking and our behaviors and our attitudes and actions, and our relationship with God and with other humans, too. What or who gets first place in our hearts and minds and in our time and focus? God? Or the flesh? Or the world?

And where does God fit into all of this? Does he indeed have first place in our hearts, as he should? Or are all these other things crowding him out to where he is barely noticed by us in our day to day routines? Do we consider the will of God for our lives and what he has planned for us to do when we make our daily plans? Or do we only consider him when we have a question or a prayer need or something we want? Who or what gets first place in our hearts, in truth? God? Or the things of this world and fleshly desires?

For it is true that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. So, if the things of this world and the pleasures of this world are what we treasure, i.e. what we regard as important to us above all else, it will be obvious by our attitudes, our behaviors, our thinking, our speaking, and by how we spend our time, and by what we give our devotion to. And the same applies if God and his word and his will for our lives is what we treasure above all else. It will reveal itself in many of the same ways.

So, what this is teaching us here is that we are not to treasure the things of this world, which again is not just material possessions, and to where they become our gods and what we desire most in this life, and which consume us and our minds and our time and our passions. But we are to treasure God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – and his will and purpose for our lives. And he should be given top priority and first place in our hearts and minds to where doing his will supersedes all other things that we value.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24]

By Your Grace

An Original Work / June 27, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Speak Your words to my heart,
Let Your grace and love impart.
Be to me all I need
To love and serve Christ my King;
To love and serve Christ my King.
Change my heart; be like You;
Let me love and serve in truth.
Guide my steps ev’ry day,
As I bow my knees and pray;
As I bow my knees and pray.

Love You, Lord. You love me.
You died so that I’d go free
From my sin; pure within;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin.
Invite You in my heart;
Now I have a brand new start.
Repented of my sin,
So that I’d be cleansed within;
So that I’d be cleansed within.

Live for You ev’ry day,
List’ning to the words you say.
Make You Lord of my heart;
Be Your witness, grace impart;
Be Your witness, grace impart.
Obey Your ev’ry word;
Do the things I’ve seen and heard.
Your word, Lord, in me burns,
While I wait for Your return;
While I wait for Your return.

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Treasures in Heaven
An Original Work / January 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I think it was December 25th. I received this message in a dream "you're going to get married today". And then couple of days later, I received a text message from a stranger, a woman. It was a simple greeting and she had a profile picture and she looks a bit like an early twenties Carrie Anne Moss (Trinity in the Matrix films).

I don't know what to make of it. If this is really an "answer". Yet, I never prayed for it. Worse yet, I really can't date anyone at this moment. I'm broke mostly, mentally unstable, and still getting suicidal thoughts sometimes. I may want it so badly but circumstances are impossible.

Besides, there's couple days discrepancy.... The dream said now but it wasn't until couple days later before I got anything. Although since I never receive such texts from women, the chance of such coincidence is astronomically slim or next to impossible.

Eerily like in the film Matrix too. Neo had a nightmare, the next day, she meets Trinity. Ignore it or "follow the white rabbit and see how far rabbit hole goes?"

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: Why Paul’s Words Still Divide the Church
By Michael Del Brown
Few biblical phrases are quoted more confidently—and examined less carefully—than Paul’s declaration in Ephesians 4:5: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The verse is frequently invoked to promote unity, yet paradoxically, baptism remains one of the most divisive practices within modern Christianity.
The division is not merely denominational. It is theological. And at its core lies a fundamental question: Which baptism is Paul referring to?
For many believers, baptism is assumed—almost instinctively—to mean water baptism. It is treated as a universal ordinance, binding on all Christians in every age. But when Paul’s writings are examined on their own terms, a striking tension emerges—one that the modern church has often overlooked.
In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul makes a statement that should stop us cold: “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” This is not a casual remark. It is a deliberate distinction. Paul separates his gospel commission from water baptism in a way no other apostle ever does.
If water baptism were essential to the gospel Paul preached—if it were the outward sign of entrance into the body of Christ—his words would be incomprehensible, even irresponsible. Yet Paul doubles down on this distinction throughout his epistles.
In Romans 6, Paul speaks of baptism not in terms of ritual, but reality: believers are baptized into Christ’s death, buried with Him, and raised to newness of life. The agent of this baptism is not water, but the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul is explicit: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”
This baptism is not performed by human hands. It is not administered by clergy. It is not repeated, recorded, or photographed. It occurs the moment a person believes the gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. It is inward, spiritual, and effectual.
By contrast, water baptism—while commanded in Israel’s prophetic program and practiced under the kingdom gospel—belongs to a different context. John’s baptism was explicitly “for Israel” (Acts 13:24). Peter’s call at Pentecost tied baptism to repentance and covenantal restoration (Acts 2:38). These were not abstract symbols; they were covenantal acts rooted in Israel’s national hope.
Paul never places water baptism at the center of justification, salvation, or church unity. In fact, when the Corinthians began forming identities around who baptized whom, Paul rebuked
them sharply. His concern was not improper administration, but misplaced emphasis. The cross—not the water—had become secondary.
This distinction matters because theology shapes practice. When churches conflate Israel’s ordinances with Paul’s gospel, confusion follows. Salvation becomes something supplemented rather than received. Assurance becomes fragile. Unity becomes institutional rather than spiritual.
Paul’s gospel proclaims a finished work. Christ’s death was sufficient. His resurrection was decisive. The believer’s identification with Him is complete—without ritual reinforcement. To insist on water baptism today as a requirement, or even as a normative expression of obedience, risks obscuring the very sufficiency Paul labored to defend.
This is not an argument against baptismal history or against sincere believers who practice it. It is a call to rightly divide the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Scripture does not flatten God’s unfolding purposes into a single undifferentiated system. Distinctions are not divisions; they are clarifications.
The tragedy is that Paul’s unique apostleship—to the Gentiles, with the revelation of the mystery—has often been absorbed into a broader narrative that was never meant to contain it. When that happens, the church loses sight of what makes the body of Christ distinct: not ritual continuity, but spiritual union.
“One Lord, one faith, one baptism” is not a slogan. It is a doctrinal anchor. And according to Paul, that one baptism is the Spirit’s work—not man’s ceremony.
If the modern church hopes to recover true unity, it must begin where Paul began: not at the font, but at the cross.

Please pray that if it is God's will the storms will miss us and we will be safe and have power if it's God's will. I ask in the name of Jesus. Thank you and God bless you. Carmen.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A bodyguard for the family of Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been arrested on charges of drug trafficking.

Justin Salsburey, a 43-year-old resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, was arrested along with his wife, Urbana schoolteacher Ruthann Rankin, on Dec. 30, according to WSYX-TV.

Prosecutors say the couple were mailed 261 suspected drug parcels between August 2024 and December 2025.

In one parcel, investigators found 119 pills of blue counterfeit OxyContin pills that tested positive for fentanyl, according to the criminal complaint against Salsburey.

Investigators let a second parcel be delivered, after which then saw Salsburey and Rankin put objects on their porch that were picked up by multiple people, the complaint stated. One of the people, Tristan Aulds of Belle Center, Ohio, later told authorities that he purchased Adderall from the couple for $5 per pill.
_______

The private security firm that hired Salsburey, ARK Protection Group, immediately removed him from the Ramaswamy family’s security detail, Luck stated.

Vivek Ramaswamy family bodyguard arrested on drug trafficking charges

Justin Salsburey, a 43-year-old resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, faces federal drug charges after receiving more than 260 parcels of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

www.cleveland.com

l.

The faith that is called "not from the flesh", and "a gift from God" where Jesus is the "Author and Finisher" always seems to be speaking of the ongoing, and not the initial faith.

Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

The first faith always seems to be about the initial act, like believe, trust in, repent (change of mind), and then the second seems to be about the ongoing faith, as in Jesus is the Author and Perfector of, a gift from God, Spirit empowered.

In the context if the Bible, is the word 'believe' the same as "faith'? Is there a distinction to be made between the initial faith and the ongoing faith? I believe there is, but just wanted to hear others thoughts on the matter.

Here's some more. John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9 vs. James 2:17, Hebrews 11:1, Gal. 2:20.

How many times do I say, "I've done this sin so many times, I'm officially tired of it now, today's the day where it ends," but the temptation comes back within a day or two and I cave?